San Francisco gets its first green bike lanes on Market Street

Cyclists who routinely ride on Market Street from Gough Street eastbound have no doubt noticed a steady stream of changes to the bicycle lanes as the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) has been adding safe-hit posts and creating the impression of greater safety and dignity for cyclists on the corridor.

Over the weekend the SFMTA took that process a few giant leaps forward by adding vibrant green paint to the protected lanes to further distinguish the bicycle-only space. The lanes are part of the SFMTA’s Sustainable Streets division, which has secured permission from Caltrans and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to experiment with various pavement colors and treatments in bicycle lanes, the Market Street Calm the Safety Zones, and other areas of the city.

The new lanes are permissible even with the bicycle injunction because they are not technically considered traffic control devices, which are not allowed to proceed until the injunction is fully lifted.

Timothy Papandreou, Deputy Director for Sustainable Streets at SFMTA, explained that the agency has been consulting with traffic managers in Portland and New York City to learn from their similar bike lane treatments, though he noted that neither of those cities have the same limitations the injunction has imposed.

"It’s our first step and we’re really excited about it," said Papandreou, who noted that cyclists over the weekend were stopping to talk with the work crews adding the color to the lanes and riding them back and forth for fun. "When they went in, people just naturally gravitated to them.